


Letting It All Out

by RakuenOkami



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Emotional, F/M, Fluff, Post-Dark Signer Arc, Relationship Fix-It, Sparkle Barf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27614392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RakuenOkami/pseuds/RakuenOkami
Summary: Jack has been putting off going to see Carly ever since she recovered from being a Dark Signer. But finally, he works up the courage to discuss the experience with her.
Relationships: Jack Atlas/Carly Nagisa
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11
Collections: Yu-Gi-Oh! It's Time to G-G-G-Gift! [Mini-Exchange]





	Letting It All Out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Yunalesca10](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yunalesca10/gifts).



> Written for the 2020 Yu-Gi-Oh! Mini Exchange for Yunalesca10.

“Hi Jack, do you mind if I sit here?” Luna motioned to the seat across the table from him. Jack nodded and sipped his coffee. “Go ahead.”

“Leo's helping Crow and Yusei...” Before she could continue there was a small explosion from the garage. She sighed and ordered a hot chocolate for herself.

Jack didn't say anything, just took another sip of his coffee.

“Is there, something on your mind?”

Jack stared at her, clearly he hadn't been expecting that question. “What makes you say that?”

“Normally you'd be in there helping with the Duel Runner. That, and you're just staring into your coffee.”

After some more staring into his coffee, Jack finally answered. “It's Carly.”

“You still haven't gone to see her yet?” Luna's voice was scolding. “She's been missing you for the past six months.”

Jack didn't respond right away. “It's just that the last time I saw her, she was literally dying in my arms. It's all my fault that she got involved with the Dark Signers in the first place.”

“I thought we told you, she doesn't remember any of that. She just misses you Jack.”

“Maybe you're right.” Jack tried to sound more dismissive, but he knew she was completely right. He finished his coffee, stood up and started to walk off. “Maybe I _should_ go check on her.”

Luna smiled and took a sip of her hot chocolate. As soon as Jack was out of sight from where she sat, Crow emerged from the garage and approached Luna's table. “Where did Jack get to? We could really use his help in there!”

“He's finally doing something he should have done weeks ago.” Luna smiled.

Crow laughed. “That's Jack alright, always taking his sweet time.”

It was then that the server emerged from the inside of the cafe. Knowing that Crow was friends with Jack, she handed the coffee bill to him. Crow's laugh quickly turned into a string of insults, causing Luna to roll her eyes. Jack was completely hopeless.

Jack soon found himself at the door to Carly's apartment. He wasn't quite sure what he was going to say to her, so he stood there ready to knock, collecting his thoughts. After a minute, he figured there was no point in just standing there and thinking. But when he went to knock, his fingers connected with something a lot softer than the door.

Carly had been on her way out the door when Jack's fingers collided with her head. A little 'ow' escaped her lips at the unexpected impact. For a moment they just stared at each other in surprise. Carly was the first to react.

_ Oh my gosh, Jack? What is he doing here? He couldn't have come here to see me, could he? Oh my gosh, that's exactly why he's here, I'm sure of it! _ She started blushing and awkwardly flailed her arms around. “J-Jack! H-h-hi.”  _ 'Hi?' Really? That's the best I could come up with? I've been waiting to see him for six months and all I can say is 'hi?' _

“Sorry.” Jack pulled his hand away from where it had rapped Carly in the forehead. “Are you busy right now?”

“Uh, no. It can wait.” That wasn't entirely true, but she wasn't going to let this chance get away. “Come on in. I've got some tea here, somewhere.”

It didn't take long for Carly to put some tea on and soon they were sitting perpendicular to each other with a warm mug each. Carly had a mess all over the rest of the table, including work and some old dishes she was berating herself for not cleaning up sooner. Jack appeared to be intently staring into his cup.

_ Is it just my imagination, or is he avoiding looking at me? _ “So,” there was an awkward pause as Carly strung out the word. “Why did you come to see me today?”  _ Why did I make that sound like an interview?! _

Jack gave her an odd look that she was unable to read, so she panicked a little. “I mean it's great to see you, but it's been six months or something, so I kind of figured you forgot all about me.”

“That's not true.” Jack clearly said it with more force than he meant to. For a moment his eyes had moved up to look at Carly, but they quickly returned to his tea cup.

Now it was Carly's turn to join Jack in staring at her tea. “To be honest, I'm really happy to hear that. All this time I thought either you forgot about me, or I did something really terrible as a Dark Signer that made you want to forget me. And since you're here, I guess it's the second one.”

Jack looked like he was going to say something in response, but nothing came out.

_ Way to make a girl feel better. _ Carly continued. “I know how cliche it sounds, but I literally don't remember anything about it. The last thing I remember was sneaking into the Arcadia Movement. Sayer caught me snooping through his files and dueled me. It wasn't like anything I had ever felt before. But then again, that's the power of a psychic duelist. Before I knew it, his attacks had knocked me through the window, and I was falling. And the next thing I knew, several days had gone by and Mina and Trudge were filling me in on what had happened.

“They just gave me a run down on the whole Dark Signer situation. They really didn't know what had happened to me specifically. Mina told me that you would be the one to ask, but that you had gone missing.

“I wanted to ask you, about what happened while I was a Dark Signer. But because you went missing for so long, well, I kind of assumed the worst. Jack, please tell me what happened. Even if it's terrible, even if I, murdered a whole orphanage or something! I need to know. Can you imagine how frustrating it is to be a journalist who doesn't even know what happened to herself?” Carly was trying to hold back her tears and hide how upset she was, but not even her thick glasses could obscure her voice.

“Carly,” Jack wasn't good at the whole 'reassuring' thing, but he was going to try. “I'm sorry I didn't come to see you sooner. But it wasn't because of something you did.

“I don't have a clue how exactly you became a Dark Signer. When I found your glasses with you nowhere around, it was when the Arcadia Movement was collapsing. I assumed you had been sacrificed to summon the Earthbound Immortals. It wasn't until the other Signers and I met up with all the Dark Signers in the Satellite that I realized I was wrong. When I asked you what was going on, you seemed worried and told me to meet you tomorrow.

“When I came to the tower, you were there to meet me, deck, duel runner and dark attitude in hand. Our turbo duel track looked a lot like the one we saw between Yusei and Kalin, only the track was in the shape of a hummingbird for us.

“The duel went back and forth for a while, but what really turned the tide was my playing 'Changing Destiny.' I believed in you, and knew that the real Carly was still in there. If you chose to hit my life points with the damage, the duel would be over and I would become a Dark Signer. It sounded like you were ready to end it, but when you turned around, our eyes met and you took the boost to your life points instead.

“For a moment, you were free from Acilla Piscu's control. But it was unfortunately only for a moment. And when it came back, it came back stronger than ever. The last part of our duel was particularly intense. In the end, I was prepared to play 'Shockwave', which would reduce both of our life points to zero. I couldn't leave you like that, and I couldn't let you win. So the only thing I could do was make sure you didn't go alone.” Jack, in spite of his best efforts, could hear his voice cracking a little at the painful memory.

“But apparently you weren't as suppressed as Acilla Piscu thought. You broke through their control to play 'Earthbound Release'. Due to Majestic Red Dragon's ability, my damage was negated, while your life points were reduced to zero. That was … the end of the turbo duel.” Jack trailed off a little. He wasn't even sure how to tell her what had happened after the duel.

Carly had been silently taking this all in until now. “So, did I go into a coma or something after that?”

“... Not exactly.” Jack stood up, his tea still sitting on the table, almost like he was going to leave. Carly almost said something but Jack continued with his story. Truth be told, he didn't want her to see his face. “After the duel, you were thrown from your duel runner. We were able to talk for a moment, before the darkness overtook you. You kept trying to tell me that you would be alright, but we both knew that wasn't true. You reached your arm around me, and for a moment, we... embraced. And then, the darkness took you. You slipped away, right there in my arms. And there wasn't anything I could do to stop it.” Jack could hide his face, but his voice was a dead giveaway. He was crying.

“I tried to push you away, I wanted to protect you from the mess that I was getting involved in. Some job I did.” He scoffed at himself. “How am I supposed to tell the girl I love that the last time I saw her, she literally died in my arms?” As soon as that came out of his mouth, Jack regretted it. That was more  _ feelings _ than he wanted to share today.

_ Did Jack just say that he loves me? _ Carly wasn't sure if her imagination had run away with her at the end of Jack's story. She hoped it hadn't.

The room was awkwardly quiet for a moment. Carly wasn't sure what to say, and Jack felt he had definitely said too much. It was up to her to break the silence. “Thank you, for telling me all this. As crazy as it sounds, I'm actually really glad to hear that's how it all happened. My imagination had been running off with me all this time. When I didn't hear from you, I began to worry that I did something really awful to you as a Dark Signer, something so terrible that you wanted to forget about me entirely.”

“I would neve...” Jack turned around to see Carly smiling at him. There was something very warm and comforting about her smile. Her eyes were visible behind her thick glasses. They were closed, but with the hint of her leftover tears on their edges.

“It makes me so happy to hear that, Jack.” And that was when Carly started crying again. But there was nothing subtle about it this time. They were flowing pretty heavily, released with her relief. “Why am I crying like this?” she sobbed. “Oh my gosh, this is so embarrassing!” Her embarrassment of crying in front of Jack only made her cry harder.

Jack couldn't help himself, he laughed. “You don't have to make fun of me!” she sobbed, blowing her nose.

Jack's laugh regressed to an amused chuckle. “Sorry, Carly. I wasn't making fun of you. All this time I've been worried that things could never go back to normal for us. I was scared to see how much you had changed. But you haven't changed one bit. You're still as goofy as ever.”

Carly puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and turned away, putting her glasses down on the table. She was trying to quickly wipe the tears off her face. She stood up to grab another tissue and was startled when she suddenly felt Jack's arms wrapping around her from behind.

At first there was nothing she could do but stand there, startled and blushing. Then she began to wiggle and turned around to face Jack. Her arms came up behind him and her head leaned into his chest, reciprocating the embrace. Jack's right arm slid up, cradling her head under his chin and cheek.

Carly wasn't sure how long they stood like that. She didn't want to pull away for anything, and Jack seemed like he needed this moment as much as she did. “Carly, I'm so sorry. For... everything.”

Carly shook her head, face still buried into Jack's chest. “It's OK.”

“You're very important to me, Carly. And I can't stand the thought of losing you again. I see now that I can't keep you from sticking your nose into trouble. But promise me that in the future you'll at least let me know. Otherwise, how am I supposed to protect you?” Jack held Carly a little tighter.

Carly held him a little tighter in response. “Thank you, Jack. I'll try.”

As much as she would have loved the moment to last forever, all good things must come to an end. Jack began to let go first, Carly following his lead.

“Does this mean we're more than just friends?” Carly was a little nervous asking, and she was sure it was obvious in her voice.

Jack responded with his usual cockiness. “Maybe.”

_ That jerk! Does he have to say that with such a teasing look on his face? But that twinkle in his eye is just so dreamy. _ Carly finally grabbed the tissue she had been meaning to get and cleaned up the tears that hadn't been accidentally rubbed off on Jack's jacket. She also took the opportunity to blow her nose again. She turned back to Jack, eyes and nose both awkwardly and adorably red but dry. “There's something I forgot to ask about my time as a Dark Signer.”

Jack looked at her quizzically. He had told her pretty much everything he knew.

“Did I look any different?”

Now it was Jack's turn to flush, thinking of Carly's previously exposed midriff and knowing how she would be embarrassed by it now. “N-no. You just looked like regular old Carly with black eyes.”

Carly's expression quickly turned to a frustrated anger. “Jack, I'm a reporter! Do you think I couldn't see through that lie a mile away?” Her face then turned beet red, imagining what she must have looked like. In 'Carly vision' she assumed a bikini was involved. “Oh my gosh, what  **did** I look like?!”

Carly returned her attention to Jack, but he was no longer right beside her. Jack was using his long legs to stride for the door as quickly as he could. “Jack Atlas, you get back here and answer my question!”

**Author's Note:**

> Author's note: As this was my first gift-fic exchange, I was very nervous until I got my prompts. I absolutely adored 3 of yours and it killed me that I only had time for one of them! One of my best friends and I have a friendship very similar to that of Chazz and Atticus, so my friends I used for beta readers were shocked I didn't go for that one! (With your permission I might try to write it sometime in the near future!) But after looking at your Jack/Carly prompt I couldn't stop thinking about it. It's always bothered me that there was never any closure between them after the Dark Signer arc, and I jumped at the chance to write some! Your style/prompts reminds me of a phrase my friends and I came up with in college: “It's so cute it makes you want to barf sparkles!” So I tried to write some sparkle-barf for you, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!


End file.
